Apr 2 2022
Steve Smith | KZRG
TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly today signed Senate Bill 330 authorizing the construction of a permanent memorial honoring Kansas Gold Star families on Statehouse Grounds.
This legislation comes after Governor Kelly directed LTG Perry Wiggins, Executive Director of the Governor’s Military Council, to explore the process to install a permanent monument and to spearhead the formation of the Gold Star Memorial Fundraising Committee.
Hershel “Woody” Williams, a retired Marine Corps warrant officer and the only living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, personally challenged her to add a Gold Star Families Monument on Statehouse grounds.
The two met at the dedication of the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument at Olathe Veteran’s Memorial Park in September 2020.
A Gold Star Family is the immediate family of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict. The monument will be on the Veterans’ Walk at the Kansas Statehouse.
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